A study on the awareness of death comparing adolescence and the middle age groups

In order to explore how to provide death education according to age groups, we examined the differences in the awareness of death between the adolescent and the middle age groups. A questionnaire survey was conducted using the Death Concern Scale. The subjects were students (n=627) aged between 19 and 29 (i.e. the adolescent group), company workers (n=149) and visiting nurses (n=94) aged between 30 and 64 (i.e. the middle age group). First, the question items were analyzed by content analysis and confirmed by factor analysis. Two factors were extracted from the Death Concern Scale:”thinking about death ” and ”anxiety and fear of death”. Secondly, the data from both age groups were analyzed and compared by using the Mean Structure Model. The factor ”thinking about death” had a greater value for the adolescent group than for the middle age group. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of the factor ”anxiety and fear of death”. These results imply that death education carries more importance for the adolescent group than for the middle age group.

青年期

壮年期

死に関する意識

質問紙調査

平均構造モデル

本文データは山口大学医学会の許諾に基づきCiNiiから複製したものである